Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

(—) (): The Voice will offer ideas and advice so governments make better decisions to address the challenges facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It will be an advisory committee made up of representatives from across the country and it will not have power to make or veto government decisions. What it will do is improve outcomes in Indigenous health, housing, education and employment, because, as we all know, for too long governments with good intentions have spent billions trying to deal with these issues but we have not achieved lasting improvement because we have not listened sufficiently to the people on the ground. The current approach is broken, and the Voice is our best chance of fix this. The overwhelming majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people support the Voice. As I said, the words of the song are about people coming together, listening to each other and choosing a better future, and that is exactly the choice Australians have on 14 October. (Time expired)